The state of Florida set for April 12 the execution of Louis Bernard Gaskin, a prisoner sentenced to death for a double murder committed in 1989 and for which he was nicknamed the “ninja killer.”
The execution was ruled through an order signed Monday by state governor Ron DeSantis, and, if possible appeals are unsuccessful, it will be the second of the year in this state after a pause since 2019.
Gaskin was sentenced to death for the December 20 murder of Robert Sturmfels, 56, and Georgette Sturmfels, 55, whom he shot with a rifle at the victims’ home, located in Flager County, in the northeast of the state.
He was also sentenced for the attempted murder of a couple and for armed robbery, which occurred on the same day as the events.
The local press nicknamed him at that time “ninja killer” (“the murderous ninja”) because he was wearing black ninja clothing at the time of committing the crimes.
The police found at the home of Gaskin, who quickly confessed to being the author of the murders, objects that had been stolen from the home of the fatalities and that he intended to give as Christmas gifts to his girlfriend at the time.
With eight votes in favor and four against, the jury in 1990 recommended the death penalty for Gaskin, which was the sentence that the magistrate finally imposed on him.
Under current Florida law, jury unanimity is required for a judge to hand down a death sentence, which is in line with the US Supreme Court’s ruling that simple majority conviction is unconstitutional .
Gaskin’s execution is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. local time (23:00 GMT) on April 12.
It will be the second of the year, after the lethal injection that was applied on February 23 to Donald Dillbeck, 59, in the Florida State Prison.
Dillbeck had been convicted of two first-degree murders, the first committed with a firearm in 1979 as a minor and another with stabbing in 1990.
It was the first execution to be carried out in Florida since 2019 and the 100th since capital punishment was reinstated in this state in 1976.
Dillbeck was sentenced to death in 1994 for the murder of Faye Vann, a 44-year-old woman who resisted the theft of her car in a garage in Tallahassee, the capital of Florida, and who was stabbed to death by the then fugitive from justice.
Earlier, he had escaped from a prison farm where he was serving a life sentence for the shooting murder of police officer Dwight Lynn Hall, 31, committed in 1979, when he was just 15 years old.
